Victor Wembanyama Reveals His Favorite Off-Court Hobby

Victor Wembanyama recently revealed that one of his favorite things to do while not playing basketball is reading fantasy novels. "I actually wondered how many books I have read. I think I read even more than before, with all the traveling," Wembanyama told the San Antonio Express-News. Spurs teammates corroborated the story, saying Wembanyama is usually seen on team flights with his nose buried in a thick book. At a recent press conference, Wembanyama named fantasy as his favorite genre. He named Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series as one of his favorites and also recently finished the fantasy juggernaut, The Wheel of Time.

Reading is a big part of Spurs team culture, with coach Gregg Popovich encouraging his players to read and remain up to date with current events. "He gives us a book every month or every couple of weeks. It’s like a little book club," Tre Jones explained. Popovich has been spotted in recent years at famous bookstores like New York's Strand Bookstore and Portland's Powell's Books.

Victor Wembanyama Jersey Goes For Record Price

Elsewhere, the jersey from Wembanyama's NBA debut recently fetched a massive price at auction. The jersey sold for $762K, nearly eight times the estimated price. The auction, handled by Sotheby's, ran through mid-to-late November with an anonymous bidder coming away with the one-of-a-kind item. Of course, the price tag is nowhere close to the record set by Michael Jordan's 1998 Finals jersey ($10.091M). However, it's an amazing price for the jersey of a player who was less than 20 games into his NBA career at the time. Furthermore, it did set a new record for the sale of an NBA rookie debut jersey. The all-time record for a full rookie uniform was set in 2021 with the sale of Kobe's rookie kit.

A major contributing factor to the auction, which reportedly drew 62 bids alone, is how Wembanyama has gone from strength to strength over the course of his young career. Of course, Wembanyama is no ordinary rookie. The Frenchman has been professionally in the well-regarded French league since 2019. While many European players come to the NBA with prior professional experience, few have that experience at the same level or hype as Wembanyama. By comparison, two-time MVP Nikola, who played three years in Serbia before the NBA, was a mid-second-round pick in 2014.

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